Tehran, Jul 24: Iran today accused arch-foes the United States and Israel of masterminding the assassination of a scientist in Tehran, Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, who was reportedly associated with the defence ministry.
“The American-Zionist terrorist act yesterday against one of the country's scientists is yet another sign of the Americans' degree of animosity,” speaker Ali Larijani told parliament today.
“America must think carefully about the consequences of such actions,” he said, urging Iran's security forces to give a “stronger response to such evil moves.”
Assailants riding a motorcycle shot dead Rezaei-Nejad, 35, in the capital yesterday evening, according to the Iranian media which originally reported he was a nuclear scientist working for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran. But today, the media stopped referring to him as a nuclear expert without giving an explanation, and presented him as an “electronics master's student” at Tehran's Khajeh Nassir University.
The Fars news agency suggested that the media had made a mistake in reporting Rezaei-Nejad's speciality, and insisted that he had links with the defence ministry, without giving details.
But higher education deputy minister Mohammad Mehdinejad Nouri told the Mehr news agency that the victim “was not a member of the defence ministry” and suggested that he may have collaborated on a project the ministry contracted to Khajeh Nassir University. (AFP)
